The Stars Shine So Bright, Yet You Shine Brighter
by with-etoiles
Summary: Blaine had stopped a few feet away from her, holding demure hands behind his back after his passionate disruption. But now he started to advance, and suddenly Rachel's world was turned alight.


_The Stars Shine So Bright Yet You Shine Brighter_

Something about the dark drew her in. It wasn't a maudlin effort at romance or romantic stipulations, but instead a dark inquiry towards the light. Something hidden in the darkness held a mysterious illusion for her, something in the darkness held a peaceful light. She inched in closer, holding the blackness in the palm of her hand, manipulating it into a lighter array of grays and dark blues. She watched the beauty of the night unfold before her curious eyes, watched as a shy relief swept over the sky. She hid behind a tree, slumped against it and let out a tired breath. This was peace. This was the space to think. The quiet consumed her, stole away with her romantic fantasies and gave her realistic trumps. She didn't know what about this quiet brilliance that held her in rapt attention, what about the flimsy stardust that held her eyes in mutual trust, but something cleared her mind and a homey peace settled into her mind, quite like the stars nestled themselves into the night.

Inside her considerably more hectic house, her phone rang duly, an aching name appearing about the screen for the fifth time that night. If Rachel had known who was calling, she wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have cared at all. He had smashed all her stupid emotions into an eclectic collection of broken shards. So she wouldn't have cared.

Outside, she slid further down against the tree and drew in a laden breath. The stars and the moon drew within her every passing second, and she felt the aspired hope of the stars gather within her chest. Perhaps when the brilliance had conjoined with nature emotion had gone too. Perhaps that explained his odd behavior earlier that day, the manic passion in his eyes as he raged within an inch of sanity. Maybe Rachel was being overdramatic; she didn't really care.

"Blaine, you idiot," she mumbled quietly to herself, watched the words disappear into the sky and come back as daunting orbs of light, watched as they occupied the quiet night.

"I know I'm an idiot, but I didn't need it confirmed once again," he mumbled conspiratorially as he suddenly appeared around the corner of another tree, propelling his words through a jet stream of brightness and into Rachel's heart.

She turned away and sighed. "I have chosen not to respond to any effort of communication you choose to offer, and I will not retract on that commitment."

He inched closer; it seemed as if the stars and the moon aligned within them. "I know," he agreed gently.

Rachel clutched at the hem of her dress, meticulously studying the floral patterns as he inched closer and painfully closer.

"Why are you here?" she asked harshly. Her resolve to not effectively communicate with him would not be broken.

"Because I'm sorry," he responded simply, a shaky breath on his lips. "I'm really, very sorry."

"No, you're not."

"And, Miss Berry, how would you know that?"

She could not allow herself to be overtaken by Blaine's immaculate charisma or delectable charm. She was a show person; acting out was her forte. Displaying emotions was what she did.

"Because those things that you said, they can never be taken back. I'm sorry, but even if you didn't mean it then, it was in your brain initially, which means at one point that you indeed did mean it."

He didn't really want to argue with her. "But I don't mean it now. I never meant it, honestly. If I could, I just want to render it useless. I want to make it not matter."

"Oh, but it does," she in turn interrupted him, "it matters so much to me, but I don't think that that would be of any concern to you anyways, so point taken."

"But you don't understand Rachel, when I said that you would never find a place here it was never meant to be taken offensively, I just meant-"

"I think I know what you meant," she cut in acerbically.

She withdrew a long breath and continued. "This may be an insignificant town in the scheme of things, but that doesn't mean that somewhere in my heart it doesn't mean something to me. You can't just go around telling people they don't belong, Blaine, that doesn't work."

"But I didn't mean it that way! You're a_ star_, Rachel Berry, a_ star_. Stars don't belong in this lowly atmosphere, they belong up there." He pointed to the expansive black sky. "I never meant to say I don't believe in you, I just meant to convey that you're more than anything I ever could believe in and if anything were to happen, you_ were_ going to end up in New York and you _were_ going to become just what you were meant to be."

Blaine had stopped a few feet away from her, holding demure hands behind his back after his passionate disruption. But now he started to advance, and suddenly Rachel's world was turned alight. The chaos the dark had evicted rushed back at her with full force, the world started to close in on her. This was not what love was supposed to feel like; love was strong and sure, love was not a weak footed being. Love did not squabble and love did not fall; love was love and this was not it.

"Look, please just listen to me?" Blaine pleaded.

She stared impatiently at an imaginary watch on her wrist. "30 seconds."

He exhaled hastily, projecting verisimilitude from his very being. "I miss you. I love you, I miss you, I love you."

Rachel sat there stunned. "Um, I'm sorry, what?"

He did not hesitate in closing the few feet of gap between them, but suddenly it was no longer some odd multiple of 12 separating their bodies. It was a schism of epic proportions, a bank of brilliance that offered a mound of gilt to the winning party. Catch was, no one could win.

Blaine was by a mere inch away from her body; it hummed electrically with the proximity. "I love you," he answered affirmatively, without a pause, with no doubt.

That's when Rachel realized that this was all stupid. She didn't even remember what they had been fighting about anyways, or what she had been angry about. She didn't recognize any insincerity in Blaine's blazing eyes, which she had suddenly found herself lost in as he stared his earnest into her soul.

That's when Rachel realized that she had been approaching love all wrong. Love was not strong and sure, it was weak and shifting. That's why, when you finally got it right, you had to hold on like the night held onto the stars, a grip of cosmic proportions. You had to take chances, you had to take risks. After all, she applied the same policy to her future, why could she not apply it here? Love was not a safe thing, nor was it an easy thing. Yet, Rachel realized, it was something infinitely worth it. _Yet_, Rachel realized, no one could win and no one was bound to win. It was something you inevitably failed at, but the failure was the key to success.

"I-" But she was not allowed to finish, as Blaine coasted the same breath as hers, captured it with his own and transformed them into a floating mass of stardust above the sky. He took her on a flying adventure, took her 'round the universe and back down in a moments kiss.

As Blaine pulled away, her world fell back into focus. The distant, shimmery stars were now in her possession, they glistened on her lips like a sweet reminder as she attempted to forge a respectable response on them.

"Blaine, I," she paused, "I _appreciate_ your feelings and I just want you to know that they are unduly reciprocated and you know, I've always dreamed of this moment where I got to confess my love for someone yet I always was afraid that I wouldn't get it right so I mean, I was always afraid that I couldn't make those three words roll off my lips and then they'd become disappointed and then, oh no, my perfect fantasies would be shattered and I couldn't let that happen, I couldn't let anything that didn't exist in my fairytale fantasies transfuse into the real world because that's not how movies do it and that's certainly not how Broadway does it and Broadway, in my concern, is the undeniable standard of the world and-"

"You are so perfect," Blaine interjected without a beat of hesitation.

Rachel smiled, a sporadic light bouncing within her eye.

"I love you too."


End file.
